Text File | 1994-05-02 | 1002 b | 6 lines | [TEXT/MSWD]
Cumulus Mountain: The summit of this peak (12,725') helps define the western most boundary of the Park and a loop of the Continental Divide. It sits in the middle of the Never Summer Mountains, which defines a hook in the Divide (looking directly east from its summit, one can see the back of the Front Range, also a part of the Continental Divide.
The Grand Ditch was dug along its flank in 1890 to capture the water from the mountains and divert it from the Colorado River to the eastern plains.
It is one of several mountains in this range named for cloud forms in 1914 by James Grafton Rogers of the Colorado Geographic Board. Cumulus clouds are fluffy with flat bases and towering fluffy tops. You see them most often in the afternoons on warm days and are often the source of rain. They make great foregrounds for summer sunsets.
Our Virtual Hike provides great views of Cumulus from the Far View Curve, including a large close-up panorama (see the Road Tour).#
